Let common sense and truth guide you in life.

The Path to Happiness

WARNING:This post contains Spoilers for the new Percy Jackson movie. If you don’t want to know, than don’t read this post until you’ve seen the movie!

I was watching the new Percy Jackson movie today when I had a thought. Generally, my mind works by absorbing large amounts of information and steadily piecing random parts together in the far corner of my mind as I go through a regular day.

Lately, I’ve read about the dubious “scientific” beliefs of tyrannical some Christian groups. These beliefs are extraordinary and hard to believe for most rational people. Those Christian groups believe man lived with dinosaurs and were the ultimate cause of their extinction. My favorite is the Christian belief that dragons are real. I love dragons. I even have a dragon tattoo yet I’m not insane enough to believe in the existence of dragons.

It wouldn’t be fair to continuously harp on the insanity beliefs of particular Christian groups. (No matter how much fun I have.)

Besides religion, there are conspiracy theorists, specifically the alien conspiracy theorists not the far-right “Obama is Hitler, Muslim, Kenan, etc.,” “Obamacare is the Holocaust,” or “Pro-Choice is genocide” theorists.

The alien theorists believe there are alien bodies and technologies housed at Area 51. They also believe Amelia Earhart and her plane went down in the Bermuda Triangle.

That leads me to today and watching Percy Jackson. In the movie, the golden fleece is located in the Bermuda Triangle, which – in the far corner of my mind – led to me thinking about the recent articles I’ve read regarding Amelia Earhart.

Researchers believe they found Earhart’s plane off the coast of Nikumaroro Island. They theorize that Earhart was forced to make an emergency landing and was stranded on a deserted island where her body stays to this day. Hence, there’s one conspiracy debunked by evidence that lead to a plausible theory.

There is another recent article that quashed the conspiracy surrounding Area 51. Don’t get me wrong. I love the thought of aliens from another planet. The thought of the human race alone in a Universe that seems endlessly vast is depressing. There are days when I look at my fellow humans and the only thing keeping me from plummeting into a “what’s the point” depression is the thought of aliens on another planet living smarter than us.

Perhaps we’ll have to wait another day for proof of intelligent life on other planets. The American Government has declassified documents on Area 51. Sadly, Area 51 is nothing more than a secret air base designated for developing and testing top secret airplanes like the 1955 U-2 spy plane. Yet another conspiracy debunked, which led me to an important question. Why are people willing to believe in anti-scientific religious beliefs and alien conspiracy theories?

My thoughts led me to a philosophical theory I’ve been mulling over, the theory of true happiness. True happiness is a lasting and fulfilling happiness. People often equate it with their personal meaning of life.

Some people find it by living a life thats true to themselves. They embrace their natural inclinations instead of denying those inclinations. If a man or woman embraces their homosexuality instead of repress it, then they find true happiness. A person who is told to find a job that would make them much money instead works at a job that’s natural to them, fulfills them, then they’ve found true happiness.

Conspiracy theories don’t fall under true happiness. Instead, conspiracy theories fulfill the alternate form of happiness known as shallow happiness.

Shallow happiness is fleeting and tends to make people feel emptier the more they indulge in the shallowness. People indulge in shallow happiness because it’s easier to find and is prone to be more socially acceptable. A person who frequently buys non-practical items to feed their need for fleeting happiness.

While I’m not calling faith a form of shallow happiness, I believe the constant need for validation to the point of delusion a form of shallow happiness. These are people who absolutely need their beliefs to be true by finding “evidence” where there is none. Some Christians believing in the reality of dragons because there’s evidence in the Bible – a biased book that has little to no basis in fact.

Alien conspiracy theories are also forms of shallow happiness in seeing false “evidence” in articles and pictures that can normally be rationally explained.

What happens when the beliefs of Christians and conspiracy theorists are debunked?

They ignore facts and rational scientific theory and continue believing in the unbelievable because they want to cling to their shallow happiness. These people fear letting go of that shallowness thinking that there is nothing beyond that temporary form of happiness, that there is nothing permanent or more meaningful.

Unfortunately, the fears of the dragon believing Christians are detrimental to America. While the rest of us try to live our lives or attempt to find our true happiness, we drown in the delusions of the fearful.